The secret to sleeping better and longer just might be giving yourself a break at the office

February 27, 2019 at 05:00AM by CWC If you’re burned out at work—which, let’s be honest, most of us have been at one point or another—you’ve likely fantasized about crawling into bed and sleeping for, like, an avocado’s entire lifespan. But if you’ve ever actually tried to snooze deeply when you’re drowning in deadlines, you know all too well that restorative rest can be really hard to come by during a period of serious stress. (Seriously, cortisol and adrenaline levels aren’t working in your favor here.) This connection between burnout and insomnia, which probably seems fairly obvious to anyone with a demanding job, has real science behind it: A study of 1,300 financial workers showed that job strain only represents a risk factor for burnout if coupled with insomnia. And, for a lot of Well+Good readers, work and stress—and work stress—is, indeed, interfering with shut-eye: In a recent survey, we asked what keeps people up at night; 55 percent cited work or school, 60 percent said anxiety, and 65 percent said general stress. The first step in fixing this stress insomnia is accepting that it’s is a problem. “If the stress you’re experiencing is impacting other areas of your life, like relationships, friendships, physical health, or sleeping habits, then it may be time to pause and reassess whether or not that stress is turning toxic,” says Paige Rechtman, LMHC. “If the stress you’re experiencing is impacting other areas of your life, like…sleeping habits, then it may be time to pause and reassess whether

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This $5 drugstore concealer is saving my face from the worst pimple of my life

February 27, 2019 at 04:02AM by CWC One morning last week, I woke up with the worst pimple I have ever seen in my life—on my own face or anyone else’s. It’s smack in the middle of my right cheek, one of those deep, cystic suckers that’s the size of a silver dollar, swollen to all hell, and a shade of deep crimson that makes it look like it could burst open at any moment. Oh, and it hurts. A lot. To say that I have tried everything over the last six days would be a serious understatement. From the lethal combo of benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid and tea tree oil, to the far less traditional method of rubbing it with ice and a clove of garlic (thanks, Instagram followers), to even having a dermatologist inject it with cortisone, I can say with full confidence that I have exhausted every single method of pimple extraction that my knowledge as a beauty editor, the Internet, and my actual doctor has to offer. Without doing the devil’s work of popping it, that is. Soooo all I can really do now is wait it out and hope that eventually it gets better (and if that doesn’t happen, it may be time for cortisone shot number two). While I’ve tried to embrace my latest facial accessory and let it breathe as much as possible, there have been a few instances—like on a Saturday night out, and going into a big meeting—where I’ve had to

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A sleep doctor shares her nighttime routine—and 3 things she’d never do before bed

February 27, 2019 at 03:00AM by CWC It’s Sleep Week at Well+Good, which means we’re investigating what’s keeping everyone up at night, how fatigue is impacting our lives, and how we can clock some better shut-eye once and for all. Here, sleep expert and author of the forthcoming book The Woman’s Guide to Getting Over Insomnia, Shelby Harris, PsyD, shares her nighttime routine and how she puts all her intel into practice.  I have an 8-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter, so the first part of my evening is all about them. I work from home on Mondays and Fridays, while on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, I get home around 5:30 p.m. My husband has a demanding work schedule, so sometimes he’ll get home around 6:30, while other nights he doesn’t getting home until after 11 p.m. Early in the night, I help my son with his homework, play with my daughter, and make dinner. We eat around 6 p.m., and then I’ll do the dishes and spend time playing with the kids. If my husband is home, he’ll help out, too. Sometimes I don’t finish the dishes, but I don’t stress about it. As a sleep doctor, one thing I’ve learned is that having enough time to relax in the evening is more important than finishing chores. Sleep is not an on-off switch. As a sleep doctor, one thing I’ve learned is that having enough time to relax in the evening is more important than finishing chores. —Shelby Harris, PsyD

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